Statement of Jonathan Pollard: The measure of a friend

[In response to MK Aryeh Eldad]

IMRA - July 18, 2007

Jonathan Pollard
FCI Butner, Butner NC
July 17, 2007

The single most damaging weapon that has been used against me for the last 22 years has been the vilification of my wife, Esther. It is obvious that Esther has never been the real target of these attacks; I am. Those who wish to silence me never attack me directly, they attack Esther.

Aryeh Eldad's response to our op-ed [MK Aryeh Eldad- the new hope of the Israeli nationalist camp?] fails to address any of the substantive issues we raised. Instead, Eldad resorts to ad hominem attacks against my wife.

I run my case and have full control of my affairs by working through Esther. Esther is my voice and my vehicle for action in the outside world. She represents my interests, my position and my words faithfully - and always has.

Eldad's repeated attacks on Esther's character and credibility must be understood as serial attacks on me. His attempts to discredit her in order to deprive a man in my desperate circumstances of the ability to be heard, or to act outside of the prison walls, is morally indefensible. What Eldad suggests would virtually cut my legs cut out from under me, tie my arms behind my back, and silence my voice.

I wish to make it unequivocally clear that I am as much the author as Esther of the op-ed [MK Aryeh Eldad- the new hope of the Israeli nationalist camp?] She wrote it at my request, under my direction, using the points she and I discussed. Before it was submitted for publication, I reviewed it. This is standard procedure for us.

Eldad complains that Esther portrays him as an enemy, when he believes himself to be a friend.
Esther and I measure our friends by their actions.

What kind of friend attacks the wife of a man in my circumstances? What kind of friend repeatedly undermines support by claiming that 'nothing can be done to help Pollard'? What kind of friend systematically discourages others from helping? What kind of friend revives a defunct anti-Israel canard without regard for the damaging consequences to me and to the State? What kind of friend absents himself from the field of battle for 22 years?

Instead of attacking my wife, undermining our credibility and deterring support for my case, why isn't Eldad raising his voice in Knesset and banging on the table? Why isn't he speaking out in the media about the intolerable abandonment of an Israeli agent whose very life hangs in the balance? Why isn't he lobbying his American counterparts? Why isn't he taking whatever action is necessary to save the life of an Israeli agent in peril?
That is how we measure a friend.